PLANTED GARDEN TODAY - anybody planting yet?

[Chickie'sMoma]

ouch! i know your pain with hot peppers!

i use tomato cages around my peppers. i paint them with rustoleum in different colors and put them around my different types of peppers and grow peas along side them to climb the cages.

 

[math ace]

flgardengirl - -

My winter squash did Fantastic last spring. I had more butternut squash than I could eat or give away.

I had to watch out for squash bugs, but other than that - - - it went well.

My Jalpenos were good last year, but I could grow a decent sweet bell pepper to save my life last year.

Each year it is a live and learn. I get a little better and more productive each year.

 

[The Chicken People]

I have started tomatoes roma and cherry inside as well as peppers! Cant wait for the snow to melt!

 

[heritagebirds]

Nope, two feet of snow LOL

 

[amyparrotflock]

we're in the planning stages, but we still aphids in the house! ARGGG!

Yes, aphids, and they are thriving on last years pepper plants. So unless I can get an aphid free zone in the house there is no way in Hades I can start anything in doors.

I've sprayed with safer soap and taken them to the garage to spray with the ortho max. They don't die! My pepper plants are almost always overwintered, and when they go back they give us the HOTTEST peppers you've ever had. the only hard time I have is keeping them alive over the winter. I have one plant that was going to be three years old, that is until the aphids killed it.

We're thinking more heritage tomatoes, sunflowers, peppers, dill's atlantic giant pumpkins, etc. The garden is getting quadropled in size this year so we can can more. oh and of course my pineapple plants! Oh yum, I bought the one last year and it's already morphed into three plants, one being brand new from the pineapple top.

last years garden:

 

[flgardengirl]

math ace: o.k. spill it lol, what is the secret to growing good winter squash here? This is my 2nd yr in NE FL so still learning the climate. When do you plant them and what do you use to keep the leaves from getting mildewed during the rainy season? I can handle bugs but this mildew is the pits.

amyparrotflock: Your garden looks fabulous. Aphids are such a pain. I usually use a soap oil spray on them but if they are in pots that are easy enough to pick up, you could put them in the bathtub and if you have one of those shower spray things on a hose, you could hose the aphids off. Either that or squish them with your fingers LOL.
When I lived in Phx, AZ I once had the same Jalepeno plants for 4 years. They grew under the shade of a climbing rosebush that protected them in the winter and gave them filtered sunlight in the summer so they didn't fry in the sun. They did great!

 

[eggchel]

Im afraid I succumbed to a few impulse buys in the garden section of Lowe's today. Really, I was only in there to help my mom find a lavender plant. LOL But, while I was there, I picked up a bare root Thompson Seedless Grape for my son, a few seed packets for my daughter (nasturtiums, snow peas, and rainbow swiss chard), and a packet of my favorite, yellow wax beans.


We are going to try starting the seeds in eggshells this year. http://corditecountryshownotes.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/eggshellstarters.jpg
After all, we have lots. LOL

 

[Bebop]

All I have is my chocolate and pineapple mints and my lemon verbena plants.
My lemon grass sort of died back because of the heavy rain, but the roots still look good, so I'm hoping that comes back soon.

 

[math ace]

flgardengirl,

This is only my 4th year in north florida and it does take some adjusting to make everything work.

I plant my winter squash in EARLY April. If we get a late freeze / frost, I cover them and shelter them. We will get a lot of rain before they mature, so make sure they have plenty of room to vine. Crowding just makes the mildew issue worse.

Also, we spray with neem oil at the first sign of powdery mildew. Spray once a week during periods of heavy rain. Apply early or late in the day. Don't apply in the heat of the day!

If you plant early April, by the time the rains are taking us over, the plants should BE HUGE.

 

[flgardengirl]

Thanks I will go ahead and try them again. I use Neem on some of my other plants but for bugs, didn't know it was good for mildew: Cool !! I didn't have that much of a bug problem last year as I did the year before by far. Last year I put in some waterlilies in large black trash containers and some water lotus in other large containers in the yard. I used the mosquito dunks to prevent mosquitos. These tubs were also to attract the green tree frogs to lay thier eggs there. Our yard exploded in the little guys and they ate up most of the bugs. I hardly sprayed at all last year because everytime I would start thinking about it, I would look down and see one of those cute little frogs lol.